U.S. to Send Warship Through Taiwan Strait?|AIT新館落成 傳美軍擬派戰艦經台海

A foreign media report says the U.S. plans to send warships through the Taiwan Strait around the time the new American Institute in Taiwan opens. It says the U.S. may not send senior officials to the opening but send them on the warships instead to show the Trump administration's support for Taiwan. Taiwan's foreign ministry says it is unwilling to comment on unconfirmed reports.


The American Institute in Taiwan's new office will open on June 12. According to a foreign media report, the U.S. is unlikely to send a secretary-level official to the ceremony because of the Trump-Kim meeting on June 12. However, the U.S. may demonstrate its support for Taiwan by sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait.

It would be very smart and appropriate of (the U.S.) to send a military ship through the Taiwan Strait instead, as this would not raise tensions.

Alexander Huang says this is a possibility but that doesn't mean it will actually happen. In the last 20 years, U.S. aircraft carriers have traveled through the strait just twice. The first time was the USS Nimitz in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, which was hailed as a show of support for Taiwan. The second was the USS Kitty Hawk in 2007, which was returning to its home port in Japan. The Kitty Hawk went through the Taiwan Strait after China denied port entry to the carrier in Hong Kong.

(An aircraft carrier traveling through the Taiwan Strait) would be a possibility. The (U.S.) secretary of defense was pretty clear at that forum in Singapore. It's no longer just military ships in the South China Sea. (The U.S.) may do other things. This may be one of those things.

Chen Chien-jen says there have been tensions between China and the U.S. over military activity in the South China Sea and U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis recently reiterated U.S. support for Taiwan in the face of provocation from China. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense has declined to comment.